Once the Gate started connecting to random universes, it was just a question of time until it offered a way in to some alien lifeform. The reports are sketchy and in no way all trustworthy, but there is surely something lurking amongst the debris and dusts of our solar system. Foreign genetic material has been recovered in the Khaos cloud and in the Earth belt, but macroscopic samples have yet to be returned to laboratories. Sightings of strange animals are plenty -but most can be attributed to the overactive imagination of sailors and technicians. Most of the information below is hence of questionable exactitude or even veracity, but is included anyhow.There are several categories of monsters / alien lifeforms:- the microscopic:

vampire diatom

The commonest are what are popularly called 'vampire clouds': a dangerous corrosive nebulous cluster of space diatoms that feed on dusts and hard radiation. Most are harmless, but as they are immune to hard vacuum, they began to proliferate and might cause problems. A specie that feeds on metal and carbon derivatives is known to cause damage to ships that cross their cloud. Their biology is based on fluorine and hence completely alien to ours.

- the macroscopic: - the Cetus void-grazers are the largest known of alien lifeforms, as they are reported to sometimes reach two kilometers in length. They tend to be oblivious to their surroundings but may have attacked installations and ships in the past. They feed on solar radiation and small debris, which they absorb and crush in their very large mouth -they may very well reduce a loose asteroid to rubble before ingesting it.

artist's impression of a young adult Cetus void-grazer

Small samples indicate that the Cetus creature is a silica-based lifeform, but its origins remain a mystery: did it emerge on its own, or is it a construct ? More samples will be needed to give a satisfactory answer. The number of specimen to have passed through the gate is also anyone's guess, but as encounters grow more common, one has to wonder whether the Cetus can reproduce itself in some novel way or if it has grown overly familiar with our presence in the solar system.

- Space-eels are common in their breeding grounds, where they burrow in asteroids and wait for prey to pass. They seem to feed on radioactive material and energy -both of which are readily present on spaceships. The largest specimen may reach 200 meters. Systematic patrols of the most traveled routes limit the nestings of eels to a tolerable level -but they are not near as efficient as a hungry adult Scylla mantis.

depiction of a adult space eel. The dorsal crest is not common.

These creatures attack with their fearful jaws and claws, but mostly use their Maxwell ampullae against machine and ships (a complex organ that emits an powerful electro-magnetic pulse that disables ship systems). The same organ is used by the eels to locate and prey upon their hapless victims. Space eels are not really smart and may be lured and even captured with the right equipment. Several experiments led on young captured specimens yielded interesting results, as it was sometimes possible to control the monsters -not as reliably as desired though, as the demise of the laboratory showed.

- the Black Cyclops is the rarest of all, but the most dreaded by far. Contrary to other space creatures and monsters, it's intelligence is high, and it preys on larger ships and even settlements. The monster attacks with its cyclopean eye laser, and is rumored to jam computer systems. Terrorized survivors tell stories of how the Cyclops then proceeds to tear the ship apart to look for live crewmen -which are then ingested with care, as a delicacy.